Ana Mićković – Good vibrations

In 2013, Wired magazine reported on the first laboratory synthesized compound that appeared to behave in “uncannily lifelike ways”. After exposure to light and chemicals, the compound produced crystals that moved, broke apart and began to reform. “There is a blurry frontier between active and alive,” noted biophysicist Jérémie Palacci of New York University.

Ana Mićković’s MA Fashion project, ‘Good Vibrations’, takes these ‘blurry’ lines as inspiration. The crystals of ‘Good Vibrations’ are somewhere between those rocks that might hold the key to evolutionary history and those that slid from New Age phenomenon into mainstream fascination, as indicated by their ubiquity within fashion, wellbeing and lifestyle brands.

For Mićković, crystals are a natural material embodying a rich mythology and potential knowledge. Designing garments using crystals associated with various health-enhancing benefits and specific vibrational energies, (in accordance with New Age ‘crystal-healing’ principles), Mićković research on colour, geometry, and the historical usage and cultural meaning of crystals is reflected throughout the design process and in both the fabric and finished garments.

The project’s outcome has been guided by Mićković’s desire to produce designs which give a sense of receptivity to the energies of the wearer, and awareness to their immediate environment as well as recognising the individual qualities and beauty of each stone.

‘Good Vibrations’ makes no grand claims to change your life, but instead makes reference to the growing need for the esoteric in modern day life, to believe in something external and bigger than oneself, perhaps in place of personal power and agency. Even if we cannot scientifically prove or even articulate it, Mićković’s project demonstrates one of the ways that fashion might be capable of influencing our mood and wellbeing.

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